Estrellita EF1 / Shark EF1

[DonStegall]

StegallHobbies.com will be producing the Estrellita / Shark EF1 kit this year.

Mark Ackerman has engineered a built up wing for the plane. He has done a video on building the wing. When I get the video, I will post it.

The kit may be offered with a choice of a built-up wing or a foam core wing.

I will be producing molds for fiberglass parts for this kit.

[DonStegall]

Fuselage and tail kit

[DonStegall]

Photos of the full scale Estrellita

[DonStegall]

When I was getting the fuselage parts together, I found that I had missed two trailing edge pieces for the wing kit.

I don't like missing or confusing information, so I re-took the wing kit photo.

The laser cut trailing edge pieces for the ribs are turned toward the camera.

Even though there are a lot of parts to the wing kit, it looks to be well designed and looks like it will go together well.

I will be doing written instructions for all of my kits. And possibly videos.

[DonStegall]

The Estrellita and Shark EF1 cuts will be specific to the plane model. The wing and tail parts are different enough that it doesn't make since to have a single kit.

Here are the plans for the fuselage and the built-up wing.

I have additional photos of the wing building process as well as video. I will assemble them into a video to provide context and post it on RCPylon.TV as soon as I get a chance. The built-up wing assembly looks pretty straight forward and I think even I can do it.

I will have a set of the vacuum formed parts soon and I will start to make the molds when I have an airframe together to get the fit right and have support for the plastic parts.

[DonStegall]

I finally got around to uploading the video that Mark Ackerman sent me of the pre-building of the Estrellita EF1 Pylon Racer Built-Up Wing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWkGkRO5jeI

[DonStegall]

After seeing the wing plans and the video on building the wing, which do you think is your preference for this plane, foam core or built-up?

Since we may have some weather without constant rain this weekend, I may get primer on the fiberglass parts for the Miss Cosmic Wind, so I can get those molds under way.

I'm looking forward to the builds of the Estrellita and the Miss Cosmic Wind kits.

I'm taking a break from getting epoxy fillers listed on Amazon for a few days. I need to build some planes and play some guitar.

[KJF]

I would go with a foam core wing, it would be a lot easier and build just as fast, to many parts for the built up wing. The only difficult step building the foam wing is carving the trailing edge.
I have built two Estrellita's, one from a kit and the other was scratched built.

[DonStegall]

Ken,

Thanks for the input.

Your planes look extremely nice.

Here are some photos of a fuselage by Mark Ackerman.

[DonStegall]

This video shows the formed parts and I'm making molds so that the parts can be produced in fiberglass.

[DonStegall]

I'm laying up "thick" pieces inside the plastic Estrellita / Shark cowl and hatch. The hatch will be ok this way as it will be used for pulling vacuum formed hatches and canopies. The cowl may be undersized. If it is I will make a "plug" from the plastics parts with the plugs laid up inside in place to keep the shape. I used Harold Sattler's Dolphin wax and it is so slick, the PVA did not want to stay on. I got it on with a couple of minor runs. I will have to work on the plugs anyway, so that is no big deal.

[DonStegall]

Don Stegall This is an Estrellita built by Greg Doe with a foam core wing and the plastic parts. Kit by Carolina Custom Kit cutters.

[DonStegall]

This is John McDermott Jr's Estrellita built by Mark Akerman of Carolina Custom Kits and covered and finished by John. This one obviously has the built up wing.

[DonStegall]

Travis Flynn and Dan Kan with Travis' NATS winning Shark

[DonStegall]

I'm making molds from the plastic Estrellita parts. It's going to be a multi step process, but the first phase is coming along. I'm not going to spam this thread, but I am posting on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/don.stegall

Here are some pictures.